It is arguable that when Humanists, "Shook off, " as people say, "the trammels of religion, " and discovered things of this world as objects of veneration in their own right.. they began to lose the finer appreciation of even the world itself. Thus to the Christian centuries, the flesh was holy (or sacer at least in one sense or the other), and they veiled its awful majesty; to the Humanist centuries it was divine in its own right, and they exhibited it. Now it is the commonplace of the magazine cover. It has lost its numen. So too with the cult of knowledge for its own sake declining from the Revival of Learning to the Brains Trust. Dorothy L. Sayers
About This Quote

This quotation is taken from the book "The Humanist Tradition in America" (W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.). The book states that when people of faith lost their belief in God, they began to lose appreciation for life on Earth.

They began to see the world as separate from God and it held less value to them. In fact, what was once considered holy now seems ordinary and mundane. This is quite the opposite from the Humanist centuries where people began to see life as sacred and divine.

Source: Purgatorio

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